Bug Fixes

• Level 16
  • Giant Slammer
    • Bonus damage is now dealt before the primary Basic Attack damage. All other effects will still occur if this kills the target.
    • Now displays as Giant Slammer in the Death Recap.

Bug Fixes

• Level 10
  • Wrath of the Berserker
    • Fixed an issue with the display priority for the duration bar of Wrath of the Berserker.
    • Remaining duration indicator is now standalone from Whirlwind's duration indicator.

Bug Fixes

• Fury [Trait]
  • Adjusted the color display for remaining duration on the button.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Leap to not grant Unstoppable while active.
• Rampage icon updated.

Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Furious Blow [W]
    • Damage bonus reduced from 50% to 40%.
• Level 4
  • Shattered Ground [W]
    • Changed Functionality: Increase Seismic Slam's splash damage by 250%. Targeting a Hero with Seismic Slam further increases its splash damage by 250%, while targeting other enemies instead increases the length of Seismic Slam's splash by 66%.
• Level 16
  • Giant Slammer [W]
    • Healing from damage dealt reduced from 100% to 60%.

Developer Comment: Sonya has been overperforming, so she is getting a sizable decrease in strength. We're trying something a little different with Shattered Ground by separating its existing benefits based on its target, and we hope this change is more interesting than simply numerically reducing its bonus.

Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Shattered Ground [W]
    • Damage increased from 100% to 125% of Seismic Slam's base damage.
• Level 13
  • Ruthless [E]
    • Now shows Crit kickers when bonus damage is dealt.
    • Health threshold for bonus damage increased from 33% to 50%.
• Level 16
  • Giant Slammer [W]
    • Damage increased from 1.25% to 1.5% maximum Health.

Developer Comment: We're buffing some of Sonya's under-used talents to help them compete with her more standard builds. Many of her [W] talents in particular, have been slightly underperforming for some time, so we're hoping these buffs cause players to give the build another look.

Updates

Base

• Whirlwind [W]
  • Damage increased from 63 to 69.

Talents

• Level 10
  • Leap [R1]
    • Cooldown reduced from 70 to 60 seconds.
• Level 16
  • Rampage [Passive]
    • Ancient Spear cooldown reduction increased from .5 seconds to 1.5 seconds.

Developer Comment: Sonya's fallen off a bit, so we're giving her a few small buffs which should make her feel better to play.

Updates

• Base

  • Health increased from 2341 to 2450
  • Health Regeneration increased from 4.879 to 5.105

  Developer Comment: Sonya has been a bit out of the meta in recent months. She has a good talent tree and no outstanding issues, so we're giving her a small buff to help her compete with other heroes in her role.

Updates

Talents

• Level 16
  • Giant Slammer (W)
    • Additional Functionality:
      • Now also Heals Sonya for the damage dealt

Developer Comment: It's hard to create a competing talent to Nerves of Steel due to the incredible on-demand survivability that it gives her in a team fight. To help its viability, we're adding survivability to Giant Slammer in hopes that it competes more directly with Nerves of Steel while being unique in that it also gives Sonya more damage in a teamfight.

Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Shattered Ground (W)
    • Splash damage bonus increased from 75 to 100%
• Level 16
  • Giant Slammer (W)
    • New Functionality:
      • Seismic Slam and Basic Attacks deal 1.25% of the target's Maximum Health as bonus damage

Bug Fixes

• The La Pantera Sonya skin no longer plays sword impact sound effects when attacking Structures.

Bug Fixes

• Battle Rage no longer grants bonus damage versus Monsters.

Updates

Talents

• Level 4
  • Hurricane (W)
    • Cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 2 seconds.
  • Shot of Fury (Trait)
    • Moved from Level 7.
• Level 7
  • Battle Rage (Active)
    • Moved from Level 4.
• Level 13
  • Mystical Spear (Q):
    • New functionality:
      • Ancient Spear always pulls Sonya to the target location even if it doesn't hit an enemy. When used this way, its cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds.

Developer Comment: Battle Rage is proving to be the dominant pick on its Talent tier and provides a lot of generic power to Sonya's kit. Rather than nerf it, we're placing it against stronger Talents at Level 7 to lessen the amount of generic power she can get overall. Similarly, Mystical Spear at 13 is giving a bit too much raw power in addition to its utility. It should now be more in-line with the more situational Talents at that tier.

Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Furious Blow (W)
    • Damage bonus increased from 40 to 50%
• Level 4
  • Battle Rage (Active)
    • Max charges reduced from 3 to 2
    • Charge use cooldown increased from 5 to 8 seconds
• Level 13
  • Mystical Spear (Q)
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 3 to 2 seconds
• Level 16
  • Rampage (Passive)
    • Ancient Spear cooldown reduction decreased from .75 to .5 seconds

Developer Comment: Sonya is getting a bit too much value out of the combination of all the Ancient Spear talents, so we're reducing the amount of cooldown reduction she gets to keep these from being the default choices. We're also reducing the healing potential of Battle Rage at level 4 as it was providing a bit too much generic survivability for an early game talent. Finally, we're increasing the damage bonus provided by Furious Blows to make it a more attractive damage option against the other two survivability talents.

Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Tough as Nails (Passive)
    • No longer immediately grants 3 Physical Armor stacks upon learning the Talent.
    • Physical Armor granted per stack reduced from 75 to 60.
    • Charge cooldown increased from 12 to 16 seconds.

Bug Fixes

• Being hit by beam Basic Attacks, such as Tassadar's Distortion Beam, after learning the Tough as Nails Talent will no longer grant Sonya permanent Physical Armor.

Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Block (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Furious Blow [W]
    • Moved from Level 16
    • New functionality
      • Every fourth Seismic Slam deals 40% more damage and costs no Fury
  • New Talent: Tough as Nails (Passive)
    • Every 12 seconds gain a stack of Block that grants 75 Physical Armor against the next Hero Basic Attack. Stores up to 3 charges. Cooldown refreshes 200% faster while Fury is active
• Level 4
  • Focused Attack (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Shattered Ground [W]
    • New Functionality:
      • Seismic Slam deals 75% damage to all targets hit and its splash damage travels 66% farther
  • Mercenary Lord (Passive)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Battle Rage (Active)
    • Passively increases damage dealt to Mercenaries by 25%
    • Activate to Heal for 10% of Sonya's maximum Health. 30 second charge cooldown. Stores up to 3 charges
• Level 7
  • Follow Through (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Ferocious Healing (Active)
    • Removed
  • Life Funnel [W]
    • Moved from Level 13
  • Shot of Fury (Trait)
    • Moved from Level 1
    • New Functionality:
      • Activate to instantly gain 50 Fury. 40 Second cooldown
      • After casting Seismic Slam, your next Basic Attack deals 40% more damage
• Level 13
  • Aftershock [W]
    • Removed
  • Spell Shield (Passive)
    • Removed
  • No Escape (Trait)
    • Moved from Level 16
    • Movement Speed bonus reduced from 25% to 20%
  • New Talent: Ruthless [E]
    • Whirlwind deals an additional 50 damage to Heroes below 33% Health. This damage does not generate additional Healing
• Level 16
  • Imposing Presence (Active)
    • Removed
  • New Talent: Giant Slammer [W]
    • Seismic Slam deals an additional 2% of Heroes' maximum Health as damage
  • New Talent: Rampage (Passive)
    • Increases Basic Attack damage by 25%
    • Basic Attacks decrease the Ancient Spear's cooldown 0.75 seconds
• Level 20
  • Anger Management [R]
    • Removed
  • Nexus Blades (Passive)
    • Removed
  • Ignore Pain (Active)
    • Armor reduced from 75 to 60
  • Composite Spear [Q]
    • Moved from Level 7
    • New functionality:
      • Increases Ancient Spear's range by 50%.
      • Hitting an enemy Hero with Ancient Spear grants 25 armor for 4 seconds
  • New Talent: Striding Giant [R]
    • Wrath of The Berserker increases maximum Health by 10% and grants the Striding Giant Ability while it is active
    • Striding Giant can be activated to become Unstoppable for 2 seconds. 30 second cooldown

• (!) indicates a Questing Talent.
• Italic text indicates a NEW Talent.
• Underlined text indicates a MOVED Talent.

Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 88 to 84

Talents

• Level 7
  • Poisoned Spear (Q)
    • Damage reduced from 125% to 100% of Ancient Spear's damage.
• Level 16
  • Nerves of Steel (Active)
    • Duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
    • Shield amount reduced from 30% to 25% of Maximum Health
    • Cooldown reduced from 70 to 60 seconds

Developer Comment: We originally applied these adjustments in a , but Sonya was so eager to get back into battle that she forgot to take them with her. We're giving these changes back to the Barbarian, and have (politely) asked her to remember to bring them along the next time she leaps into the fray.

Updates

Stats

• Basic Attack damage reduced from 88 to 84

Talents

• Level 7
  • Poisoned Spear (Q)
    • Damage reduced from 125% to 100% of Ancient Spear's damage.
• Level 16
  • Nerves of Steel (Active)
    • Duration reduced from 5 to 3 seconds
    • Shield amount reduced from 30% to 25% of Maximum Health
    • Cooldown reduced from 70 to 60 seconds

Updates

Talents

• Level 7
  • Poisoned Spear (Q)
    • Damage reduced from 150 to 125%

Updates

Abilities

• Whirlwind (E)
  • The time required after activation before the ability can be canceled has been increased from .5 to 1 seconds. This should help prevent accidental cancellations.

Bug Fixes

• The Ancient Spear model will no longer visually persist when cast on an allied Gate prior to game start.

Updates

Abilities

• Whirlwind (E)
  • Cooldown increased from 4 to 5 seconds

Updates

Abilities

• Whirlwind (E)
  • Damage increased from 339 to 441 over 3 seconds
  • Healing increased from 20 to 25% of damage done (tripled versus Heroes)

Talents

• Level 7
  • Poisoned Spear (Q)
    • Damage increased from 100 to 150% of Ancient Spear
    • Duration increased from 4 to 6 seconds
• Level 13
  • Life Funnel (E)
    • Healing increased from 30 to 35% to correspond with base Whirlwind changes

Developer Comment: Sonya has steadily been dropping to the bottom of our Hero winrates, primarily because a lot of Heroes fulfill her role slightly better. The focus of these buffs is to improve her winrate, but also to solidify the reason to take Sonya: when you can get a lot of value out of Whirlwind because of the map mechanic, an abundance of Mercenaries, or an enemy team that consistently groups up.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that prevented Ancient Spear from stunning and dealing damage if used while rooted.

Updates

Talents

• Level 1
  • Endless Fury (Passive)
    • Removed.
  • Shot of Fury (Trait)
    • Now also passively increases maximum Fury from 100 to 150 in addition to its current functionality
• Level 4
  • Hurricane (E)
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Whirlwind by 1 seconds in addition to its current functionality
• Level 7
  • Composite Spear (Q)
    • Now also increases the Fury gained from Ancient Spear from 40 to 60 in addition to its current functionality
  • Poisoned Spear (Q)
    • Damage increased from 75% to 100% of Ancient Spear's damage
• Level 13
  • Mystical Spear (Q)
    • Reduced the cooldown reduction from 4 to 3 seconds
  • Life Funnel (E)
    • Whirlwind Healing bonus increased from 5% to 10%
    • The tooltip has been clarified to state that this bonus is also tripled against Heroes
• Level 16
  • Nerves of Steel (Active)
    • Cooldown increased from 60 to 70 seconds
  • Furious Blow (W)
    • Seismic Slam damage bonus increased from 40% to 50%
    • Fury cost increased from 35 to 40
• Level 20
  • Arreat Crater (R)
    • Now also reduces the cooldown of Leap by 20 seconds in addition to its current functionality
  • Anger Management (R)
    • The increase to Stun, Slow, Root, and Polymorph duration reduction has been removed
    • Increased Fury gain bonus from 50% to 100%

Developer Comment: As part of our ongoing process to improve our talent system, we are doing a pass on all heroes in the game to increase the health of their talent trees. We know that there are a fair number of talents that feel like they are either mandatory or insignificant, and this is our first pass on putting in fixes. These fixes take many forms, and can range from simply buffing or nerfing numbers to changing functionality. We're excited to keep our heroes feeling fresh, and you can look forward to additional changes to more of our heroes in upcoming patches.

Updates

• Leap (R)
  • Stun duration reduced from 1.5 to 1.25 seconds.
  • Damage increased by 10%, from 123 (+4% per level) to 135.3 (+4% per level).

Developer Comment:

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause Sonya to stutter and fail to issue a Basic Attack.

Updates

• Wrath of the Berserker (R)
  • Cooldown increased from 45 to 60 seconds

Developer Comment: Much of the skill involved in using Wrath of the Berserker is keeping the buff up as long as possible. Right now, it's available too frequently, which devalues the skill required to use it effectively. This nerf should calm Sonya's nerves a tad while also helping to differentiate players who can manage their Wrath generation from those who can't.

Updates

• Seismic Slam (W)
  • Primary target damage reduced from 192 (+4% per level) to 176 (+4% per level)
  • Splash damage decreased from 48 (+4% per level) to 44 (+4% per level)

Developer Comment: Overall, we are really happy with Sonya, but her burst potential was a bit higher than we were comfortable with.

Bug Fixes

• Sonya's next Basic Attack after casting Ancient Spear will now properly benefit from the Follow Through Talent.

Bug Fixes

• Sonya's Seismic Slam, Tyrande's Light of Elune, and Zeratul's Cleave will no longer place the Hero's Basic Attack on cooldown.

Updates

Developer Comment: Overall, we're looking to tune Sonya up slightly. With the health increases, she'll be a bit more tanky. Previously, Whirlwind could be very frustrating to lane against if you didn't have a stun. With the shift of less healing from minions and more from heroes, this will make Sonya less of a lane bully and more of an effective skirmisher.

• Health increased from 930 (+210 per level) to 950 (+220 per level)
• Fury (Trait)
  • Shot of Fury (Talent)
    • No longer dismounts Sonya on activation
• Whirlwind (E)
  • Healing reduced from 25% to 20% of damage dealt
  • Healing for damage dealt to Heroes has increased from double to triple
  • Life Funnel (Talent)
    • Healing bonus decreased from +10% to +5% of damage dealt